'The Bodyguard' stage musical opens in London

In this undated image made available Thursday Dec. 6, 2012, by the Adelphi Theatre, showing Heather Headley performing in the lead role as Rachel Marron in the new musical stage show The Bodyguard, directed by Thea Sharrock, not pictured, which is due to open at the Adelphi Theatre in London in December 5, 2012. The stage show is based on the 1992 Bodyguard movie starring Whitney Houston in the lead role. (AP Photo / Paul Coltas, Adelphi Theatre)

Does "The Bodyguard" have the muscle to be a hit?

A stage musical based on the 1992 movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner has opened at London's Adelphi Theatre to a mixed critical reception - but universal praise for its big-voiced star.

Reviewers raved Thursday about Heather Headley's performance as Rachel Marron, a superstar singer who falls for the former secret service agent (Lloyd Owen) assigned to protect her from a stalker.

Critic Mark Shenton in The Stage newspaper found Headley - an American actor and singer who has won both a Tony and a Grammy Award - "an utterly compelling star" who combines "an authentic glamour and blazingly soulful vocals."

Evening Standard newspaper critic Henry Hitchings called her "mesmerizing," while the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer praised Headley's "sassy stage presence" and declared her renditions of songs such as "I Will Always Love You" even better than those by Houston, who died in February aged 48.

As for the rest of the show, some critics found campy fun where others saw just another uninspired jukebox musical.

The Guardian's Michael Billington damned "The Bodyguard" as "one more example of the necrophiliac musical morbidly attracted to a cinematic corpse."

He said that although staged with "enormous technical efficiency" it was "a sterile attempt to recapture the feel of a not very good romantic thriller and turn the West End into a distant suburb of Hollywood."

In contrast, Times of London reviewer Libby Purves found it "absurd and hugely enjoyable," with terrible dialogue but "brilliantly clever" design and powerful performances.

She added that "the heart swells with British pride that this terrific all-American schlock is not a Broadway import," but the work of a London team including director Thea Sharrock and designer Tim Hatley.

The Telegraph's Spencer predicted it would be a hit.

"`The Bodyguard' is dross with a gloss, and proof that if you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, you can sometimes come surprisingly close," he wrote.